


"I'm gonna tip that lil' lady good!"

by 4cky



Category: Hatoful Kareshi | Hatoful Boyfriend
Genre: F/F, Maid Cafe, Mrs. Kawara is definitely ok and just fine and she will live at least 30 more years its fine., Ryouta pushing herself too hard because she really really loves Hiyoko, ryouta continues to be a girl because im writing her. will wonders ever cease.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-03
Updated: 2016-05-03
Packaged: 2018-06-06 05:39:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6740731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/4cky/pseuds/4cky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryouta has a lot of part time jobs, but being a maid is probably the most worthwhile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"I'm gonna tip that lil' lady good!"

“Hey, Coolene, were you expecting a customer this afternoon?” One of the other girls was clocking in as Ryouta was on her break, though near the tail end of it.

“I don’t think so. If someone was asking for me, could you let them know that I’ll be back to see them shortly?” She said, sipping the last of her tea. She was relatively popular, a fact she took some pride in. But it’d be much nicer if she could at least get a solid break in without someone asking for her...

“Oh, I don’t know if she’s still around, actually. She was looking kind of silly, huge as she was, just kinda hunched over in the entrance.”

If she hadn’t already swallowed her tea, she would have spit it back out all over the front of her uniform. Did… did that mean that Hiyoko had come to visit her at work? The star maid adjusted her apron, bow-tying it as elegantly (and quickly) as she could, dashing out of the breakroom. And there she was, slouching as she waited for a table, her big, burly crush. Her throat was feeling suspiciously dry as she calmed herself down, walking over to Hiyoko, “Welcome back, ma’am. Shall I find you somewhere to sit?”

Her slightly confused and lost look shifted to an excited grin, “Oh, Ryouta! … I mean, Coolene! Yeah, that’d be really nice, thanks!”

Ryouta supposed she should have actually kept an eye out for tables that weren’t already occupied, though she was relieved to find a spot in the back, “I hope this table is acceptable. Was there a beverage you would like me to get for you?”

“Hmm… I dunno. What do you think I should get? I’ve never been to a place like this before,” She said, gnawing on her thumbnail. She didn’t seem to realize the point of a place like this was to have cute maids bring lovingly made items that the customers requested. Even so, Ryouta could certainly bring her the best items she could make, right? 

“I recommend the royal hot chocolate. It’s very popular.”

“Okay! I’ll take that, then,” she flashed a grin that made her heart thud faster in her chest, but Ryouta mentally slapped herself. This was her job, after all! If she was going to be flustered over her crush, she could do that after hours!

“Certainly, ma’am. And was there anything you would like to eat with it?”

“U--” she was going to say ‘udon’, obviously, it was her favorite food. But she stopped herself, for whatever reason, scratching the back of her neck, sheepishly, “Actually, I don’t know, I thought I heard someone else say there wasn’t any udon here, so I’ll get, um, a hamb--”

“I’m not certain who said that, but you can get udon if that’s what you’d want, H--m-ma’am,” she stumbled for a moment, but returned to her perfect maid personality. 

“Really?” Hiyoko’s face lit up, making everything she said worth it, “‘cause I’d really love to have some kakeudon. Could I get that?”

“You can have whatever you wish, ma’am,” she said with her gentle, practiced smile. 

“Geez, you’re really good at this whole maid thing! It really makes me feel like Warrior Princess Xena,” she laughed, setting a scarred cheek on her hand. Was her face… a little pink? No, obviously not, the lighting just must have hit her differently. There was no way she could ever make cool, strong Hiyoko feel flustered, like she made Ryouta feel so frequently.

“Of course, ma’am! We all want you to feel welcome,” _and I happen to be very good at that!_ Ryouta thought with a swell of pride. She bowed politely, “Now, excuse me, I’ll get your food and drinks out to you.”

When she slipped into the back, she was distressed to find whoever had said they didn’t have udon, apparently they’d run out over lunch and no one had bothered to go out and get more because compared to other items, it wasn’t that popular. Which gave her two options: 1. she could go back and tell Hiyoko she was very sorry, but they didn’t have any udon, which frankly didn’t even factor as an option to her or 2. she could switch her work shoes for the sneakers and sprint home, grab noodles which she’d happened to be making for that upcoming school trip, rush back and make some udon soup for Hiyoko.

Obviously, she went for option number 2. “Hey, Pidgerina, if anyone asks for me, could you let them know I had a quick emergency and should be back in… ten minutes tops, I think!” she slipped her Mary Janes off and half-tossed them into her locker. She laced up her sneakers in record time and dashed towards her apartment. 

Going at her top speed only took… around four minutes, give or take some seconds. She scrambled for the fridge, which seemed to be lightyears away from the door in that moment. Frankly, her stomach was already feeling awful, but since it was for Hiyoko’s sake, she could endure it. “Ryouta…? Are you home?” 

The maid nearly concussed herself from the sound of her mother. But she really had to hurry, she didn't exactly have time for a heart-to-heart with her, “Sorry, mom, I forgot to grab lunch. I, um, have an evening shift, sorry! I’ll be back probably around 11:30!”

“Oh, alright. I’ll be sure to put some dinner in the fridge for you,” her mom sounded tired. 

“It’s fine, mom! I’ll have food at work, so don’t worry about me!” She half-shouted, reminding herself to make some food for her mom tomorrow. She might’ve been getting sick, and the less she strained herself, the better. She finally found that container of udon she’d made, tucking it into a shopping bag her mom had left out. The maid sighed softly to herself, mind echoing the ‘if onlys’ of them having more money. “If I don’t see you, I love you mom!”

“Love you too, Ryouta.” Her words drifted off, like she was drifting off to sleep. That would be a relief if she was. Well, as long as she had dinner… wait, jeepers, how long had she been at her apartment? She checked the clock on the oven and saw she only had three minutes to get back to work. She fled the apartment, locking the door and running like her life depended on it. 

The maid was half a minute over when she said she’d be back, and her outfit was half-drenched in sweat but! She had the noodles, so she could switch her shoes and get them over to the kitchen! So it was fine. She dropped the noodles off in the kitchen with a blotchy faced smile, “C-could you please cook those up… for me?” 

The chef cocked his eyebrow at her as she handed the dish of uncooked noodles to him, “Did you get that royal hot chocolate out? Last I saw it was still sittin’ in the pickup window.”

For a moment, it didn’t register, until her red eyes widened in horror. Despite her legs screaming from her excursion back home, she half-ran to the window. It was still sitting there. Well!! That didn’t mean it was cold, or anything, right? She touched the sides of the cup to find it on the rather tepid side of warm. Ryouta couldn’t exactly ask if it could be warmed up again, she shouldn’t have even been out… she took in a deep breath and tried to keep smiling as she went back to Hiyoko’s table. “H-here’s your drink, ma’am! I’m, um, sorry it took a while.”

Hiyoko was half-asleep in her seat. Ryouta blamed it on the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. “Oh, Ry--Coolene! Thanks! Sorry, I was thinking about math class.”

She took the half-warm cup from her hands (which, to her credit, were only shaking nervously a little bit). The muscular girl took a tentative sip, staring thoughtfully into space. “I-I’m sorry it’s cold, I’m truly, honestly, terribly sorry!” the maid blurted out, almost feeling like she was going to cry.

“Huh? It’s not supposed to be?” she looked almost genuinely surprised, before smiling, “wow, Ryouta! I mean, Coolene! You really are good at this maid thing, to know I don’t really like hot drinks.”

Wait, she didn’t? She supposed she’d never really noticed, if she didn’t. At least, somehow, it worked out, right? She tugged at one of the ends of her headpiece with a small smile, “Of course, ma’am.”

“Did you have to fight a bear back there? You look kinda tired. And splotchy,” she asked, taking another sip of her hot chocolate (technically, she supposed, warm chocolate would be more accurate). 

“Haha… n-no, ma’am, there weren’t any bears back there,” though her stomach did hurt and she would have to take a taxi home or something, it wasn’t really because she had to fight anything. Other than her own stubborn refusal to tell Hiyoko there weren’t any noodles left…

“Maybe you should sit down with me for a while. Oh, does that cost extra? I mean, I think I could probably--”

“It’s fine! I’m fine! Thanks for your concern! I’m… I’m gonna go and check on your noodles, ma’am!” She scurried to the back. At least, with as much scurry was left in her poor legs. She was much better at being a maid when she wasn’t half-exhausted. Or serving Hiyoko, she thought distantly. 

“Coolene, how’d you need the udon?” the chef called back, not even checking to make certain it was her. 

“In hot soup, please.” She checked her uniform in the mirror, finally realizing her uniform was definitely rumpled and would definitely need to be taken to the cleaners. It’d probably get taken out of her paycheck, frankly…

They must have been fretting for a few minutes, because their reverie was broken by the chef telling her, “The order’s ready to go out. Don’t forget a tray, it’s hot.” She must have been unconsciously reaching for it, since he shot her a frown. He set it on a tray, and the star maid took it not a second later. 

She delivered the soup to Hiyoko within moments. Her classmate looked at it for a moment, apparently thinking about it, and Ryouta could swear her heart stopped beating until she got out her chopsticks and announced, “Time to eat!”

The maid finally let herself breath when she took a bite. She knew she was supposed to say something when she delivered food, but she was far too hung up on Hiyoko not liking her food to think about anything else. “I… um, hope it is to your liking, ma’am.”

Her friend actually took time out of eating to say, “Yeah, it’s really great, thanks,” before continuing to slurp down noodles. She inhaled her udon in record time, settling down with a satisfied look on her face, “Wow… I didn’t know the noodles were so good here. I’ll have to come back and get more.”

This statement did two things to Ryouta. First, she could definitely feel her face going from ‘recovering from being red and blotchy’ to ‘no, it’s definitely time to rival tomatoes’. Secondly, she couldn’t stop smiling. Because it wasn’t like it was the in-house noodles, they were the noodles she had (objectively) made for her, and she liked them. She liked them enough to want to come back despite her meager money earning situation. “I’m glad they were to your liking,” she said in as professional a manner she could muster without her suddenly bursting out into giddy laughter.

“Yeah! I’m glad I came here,” she gave her a grin full of chipped teeth and her classic hunter-gatherer charm, “hey, were you doing anything after work today? I was wondering if you could hang out today.”

“Oh,” her heart sunk in her chest. No, it would be way too late by the time she got off work to do anything like that, “Sorry, I’m not off work until around eleven. I have to help with closing, too.”

She looked especially disappointed (though, oddly, for only a moment), “Well, I could walk you home after. Would that be alright?”

“Wh...Hiyoko! That’d be way too late! I can’t ask you to do that.”

She _pouted_ in reaction to this. Honest to god, _pouting_ that Ryouta wasn’t letting her stay up that late. “But you’re staying up that late. Besides, it’d be dangerous to let a little lady like yourself go home that late,” she reasoned, nevermind the fact it was a shift that said little lady had taken the late shift dozens of times before.

And she was nothing if not weak to her crush pouting and being upset that she couldn’t walk her home, of all things. Ryouta sighed, “What’d I do to get such a nice friend?”

“You fed her an excellent dinner,” HIyoko responded with a grin that was equal parts cheeky and adorable. Ryouta distantly heard one of the other maids calling for Coolene, or she probably would have kept standing there, almost ridiculously in love with her friend’s smile. 

She hurried off, still giddy from just being near Hiyoko.


End file.
